Under Apotheker, HP released three new webOS-powered devices: the HP TouchPad tablet and HP Veer and Pre 3 smartphones.
Analyst Jack Gold expects HP to apply webOS to tablets and other consumer devices, where it would compete with Android.
The change, which includes job cuts in what HP calls the webOS global business unit or GBU, is scheduled to be implemented by October 31st at the latest.
In an April 28 conference call with analysts, HP executive vice president Todd Bradley praised webOS, adding that HP intends to invest heavily in its development and incorporate it into a range of future HP products.
Removal of WebOS from the playing field after HP yesterday it will stop selling WebOS-based phones and tablets.
The open question, though, is what company would be willing to give webOS the attention that HP wants while delivering the high volumes that webOS needs.
As Ars Technica reported in late February, LG recently bought WebOs from HP, specifically for use in smart TVs.
When speaking casually about the future of webOS on non-HP handsets, he noted that the firm was looking to license webOS to various other hardware manufacturers.
ENGADGET: HP's Leo Apotheker totally open to licensing webOS to other handset makers
Besides an obvious move into smartphones, we think HP will quickly use WebOS as the basis for its slate tablets, and perhaps eventually release WebOS netbooks and other devices.
In April 2010, when HP acquired Palm, webOS developers were relieved the company had been saved, but wary about the changes the computing giant was likely to make to an operating system originally built for cellphones.
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After all, if Research in Motion can spend almost two years developing BB10, should it be that outrageous to expect WebOS to revitalize HP?
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Where HP's work bringing webOS to new platforms and architecture could pay off, though, is in licensing webOS. Effective licensing ultimately requires supporting a broad range of hardware configurations, a burden that Nokia, for example, has pledged to help Microsoft with as the phone maker brings Windows Phone 7 to less costly hardware.
This week's release of the HP TouchPad, the first device other than a handset to feature webOS, aptly demonstrates the promise and perils of HP's adopted operating system.
Bringing webOS back into the HP fold may also require expenditures Whitman is unwilling to make.
On August 18, HP said it was killing its WebOS-based gadgets, including the TouchPad.
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Of all, the big news out of HP today, the death of WebOS was the most unexpected development.
The week before last HP said it was killing its WebOS-based gadgets.
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With HP's primary play in webOS being outside the smartphone market, it creates more room to license webOS in that high-volume category --a place where the OS really needs to attract developers.
In explaining its decision to cease webOS product development, HP said it believed it would need to invest much more money into the business to succeed, given the fierce competition in the mobile industry.
As Palm and then HP found to their cost with WebOS (we could very easily put OpenWebOS into this list of pretenders to the throne), as Blackberry found with the PlayBook, and as even Microsoft has confronted with Windows Phone.
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Other departures from HP in recent months include former webOS guru Sam Greenblatt, security sales leader Alan Kessler, Autonomy founder and CEO Mike Lynch (whose company was acquired by HP and whose accounting practices are currently under a legal microscope), and developer relations specialist Richard Kerris.
Unfortunately for fans of Palm's last hurrah, the project's webOS port died with the HP Touchpad.
The Palm deal has not yet closed, but executives may offer further granularity about HP's plans to integrate Palms webOS operating system into future devices.
Some webOS developers were irritated that HP did not upgrade the U.S. versions of the Pre and Pre Plus with the 2.0 version of webOS when the platform was updated last fall.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
That won't stop dedicated fans, however -- Phoenix International Communications plans to resurrect webOS ACL. Taking the project to Kickstarter, the team is showing an early build on an HP Touchpad, seamlessly running Android apps in cards alongside native webOS applications.
There is no doubt that HP is getting a large patent portfolio, a strong team of engineers, and a proprietary operating system in Palm webOS, and it is reasonable to assume that HP did not have other ways to acquire such assets for less than the price it is paying for Palm.
In a new wrinkle, HP also said it is discontinuing production of WebOS devices, basically killing the Palm hardware business.
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